9 | Grim Tea Leaves

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CHAPTER NINE: GRIM TEA LEAVES

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When Violet awoke in the morning, it was to Lavender Brown squealing about pretty boys, and Parvati Patil laughing at her

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When Violet awoke in the morning, it was to Lavender Brown squealing about pretty boys, and Parvati Patil laughing at her. She had had a very fitful sleep, and could barely muster the energy to get out of bed.

"I'm telling you, Cedric was positively sparkling under the—AAAARGH!"

Lavender cut herself off with a scream, and hearing it Parvati screamed too, yanking her hairbrush out of her hair and wielding it like a weapon. Hermione ran out of the bathroom with her mouth half-full of toothpaste, holding a broken shower-head in her hands.

Violet screamed from where she sat on the floor, just for the sake of it. They all stared at her incredulously. Violet blinked.

"What are we screaming about?"

"I — You!" screeched Lavender, jabbing a finger at Violet accusingly. "You scared me when you rolled out of the bed like that! Why do you look like a bloody corpse!?"

Violet stared blankly. Then, she pulled her lips into a coy smile, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear. "You think I look like a corpse?" she simpered, batting her eyelashes.

Lavender threw a pillow at her face, and she fell onto the floor again.

"You're so weird," she moaned, but she was unable to hide the grin on her face as Parvati laughed at her antics, setting down her brush and walking over to help Violet up. Hermione heaved a long-suffering sigh, and trudged tiredly back into the bathroom.

"Couldn't sleep last night?" she asked, smiling kindly. Violet grabbed her hand and pulled herself up, shaking her head no with a half-smile. "That happens to all of us the first night back. The trick is to stuff yourself with so much food you can't think of anything but sleeping, and then you're out like a light."

"You underestimate the size of my appetite, Parvati," said Violet as she leaned over her trunk to pull out her uniform. "I could eat everything in the Great Hall and then some. I gave quite a bit of trouble to my care workers while I was growing up," she grinned, remembering fondly all the times some of the children would sneak the food they didn't want onto her plate, and how Anita, the cook, would yell at her for taking so long to eat.

"Care workers?" she repeated curiously just as Hermione stepped out of the bathroom, not a trace of toothpaste or broken shower-head in her hands. "What are those?"

"Oh, it's a muggle thing!" she explained, vaguely waving her hand in the air. "The people who work at places like orphanages and foster homes."

"You lived in an orphanage?" asked Lavender solemnly, slapping a hand to her mouth. "But — I thought Snape was your dad! Did he just dump you there, or something? That's so rude!"

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